


All That He Needs

by mansikka



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-04 19:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18350288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Levi is cleaning his and Nico's apartment when he finds a letter addressed to Nico that could rip them apart.





	All That He Needs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fishyz9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishyz9/gifts).



> Hello! This is the final day of the [Schmico Week](https://justnotperfectly.tumblr.com/post/183565550780/schmico-week-is-here). How did we get here already?!
> 
> The prompt for this one was _whatever you want_ , so I asked for a prompt from Fishyz9. I hope you like what I did with it <3 Enjoy!

Dinner is in the oven, and waiting on the bed to change into is Levi's favorite shirt. _Nico's_ favorite shirt to see him in, really; it's always the one he hands him when Levi's running late in the mornings, and Nico being more organized goes through their shared closet for it.

The apartment is spotless. They aren't all that messy anyway, but Levi takes pride in the home that he's now shared with Nico for almost eight months. And it's definitely his turn to clean; last month when he'd had nothing but lates and doubles he'd come home to delicious dinners and not a chore to do in sight. He intends to return the favor for Nico, who has now worked four long days straight and was exhausted when he left this morning.

Everything is as ready as it can be, except for the trashcan needing to be emptied. Levi drops to his knees in front of where it's kept when he spots a scrunched up ball of papers that he can't quite reach from standing. Levi flattens them out, already laughing for planning on teasing Nico about _recycling_ since it's usually _him_ who misses the can. But his world stops when he sees the logo and address for a hospital in Florida, and his heart presses up in his throat.

The words _job offer_ grab his attention along with a job title that Nico would love to have, and a salary with benefits that Levi didn't even think was possible. Levi doesn't even mean to read, but he's soon at the bottom of the page with his hands shaking. He's worried once or twice that one day he might not be good enough for Nico, but he'd never imagined he might lose him to _this_.

This hurts. He's so proud of Nico, so excited for him that he's getting the recognition for his work that he so deserves. But the thought of him leaving him when everything between them is so good; Levi can't even think for it. To wake in the morning without Nico there on the pillow beside him, to go about his day knowing he's going home alone; Levi can't _breathe_. He quickly pinches his eyes to stop the onset of tears and tells himself to stop being selfish. Nico deserves this. He can't be the thing to make him think twice.

* * *

All Levi's plans and resolve went out the window the second Nico got home. He'd heard his key in the door and his heart had started racing, making him leap up from the couch and greet him with frantic kisses even before he'd had time to close the door. Which is how they ended up here; Levi arches beneath Nico feeling he won't ever get close enough. Not if he's about to lose him. How is he supposed to ever give up _this_?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nico asks for the third time since they landed here, affectionate and attentive in all the ways he always is. Levi can't trust himself to speak so nods quickly, pleading with his eyes to not show just how desperate he feels. He closes his eyes to the kisses at his throat telling himself he won't start cataloging them. He doesn't even know when Nico is _going_ yet. He can't ruin their precious time together like _this_.

When they're finished Levi can't look at him, burying his face in his chest and sinking into his arms. He listens to the calming of Nico's heart rate wondering what his must sound like for all that breaking it's been doing ever since seeing that _letter_. He's straightened it out, put it in a kitchen drawer, and will say nothing about it. This is Nico's choice, Nico's career, and he will be supportive, no matter how much it hurts. He'll wait for Nico to tell him in his own time.

"I could really use a shower," Nico whispers into his hair after long, tortuous minutes of running his fingers over Levi's back, that he's already missing before feeling them for the last time. Must he already be thinking in _lasts_? This is so selfish. Levi presses his face into Nico's stomach and sits up, pasting on a bright smile.

"I'll come with you."

Even in the shower Nico is that beautiful, wonderful, soulful man Levi has come to love so much that he truly doesn't know how to function without him. He knows the perfect caress for when he's washing him clean, and the only way to distract Levi from his heartache even if he isn't aware that his heart is breaking; with the sweetest of kisses and the sweetest of words. He'll cherish them, always; even if they aren't always his to have.

"Levi—"

"I'll get dinner ready," Levi says pulling from his arms once they're dressed, needing just a few more seconds to compose himself. This is _ridiculous_. He should be nothing but _proud_ , and _pleased_ , not mournful and moping. This is Nico's time to shine. So he busies himself plating up dinner and setting the table a little more perfectly than normal, putting on music in the background the Nico would choose, and demanding to himself that he keep smiling.

His laughter feels false, his voice too high, and this nervous energy ticking beneath his skin is threatening to boil over to ruin their evening. Nico deserves _better_ than the mess he's making himself. Levi chokes down the food that now tastes of nothing, and forces out further questions about Nico's day.

"You did so much. _Sit_ ," Nico insists when Levi tries to stand, already planning on doing the dishes and cleaning the already-immaculate kitchen. "Please."

How is Levi supposed to resist _that_? He lets Nico pull him to his feet, accepts his kisses, and follows when he guides him to the couch. He sits clutching on to the beer bottle from dinner, still arguing with his heart against racing so fast.

"I'll only be a minute," Nico whispers, bending down to kiss him. And now everything is even worse for Levi being left with his own thoughts. Will he stay here? In this apartment? How can he sleep in the same bed when Nico is _gone_?

Levi begins to replay moments of them together, remembering dates, stolen kisses at work, the first night they'd officially moved in together. He should cherish them all, be thankful for them. Instead of getting upset like he is.

"This was screwed up for a reason."

Levi jolts at the sound of Nico's voice, his gaze falling to that horrible letter in his hands. "I didn't even mean to read it. Honestly. I was cleaning, and I—"

Nico silences him with a kiss, bracing against the back of the couch with one hand as he straddles Levi's lap. His fingers curl around Levi's jaw as he kisses him, slow and reassuring. Levi wraps his arms tight around his waist savoring every second. And when Nico stops kissing him all he does is throw his arms around him, cradling Levi to his chest.

"This," he says, waving the letter when he sits back, "I already replied to. I already emailed them back and said _no_."

"But—"

"I can't believe that you even thought I'd take it," Nico adds, smiling at him with such affection Levi could cry.

"But it's perfect," he says, because it is, it's the most incredible opportunity for Nico. He can't be the reason he misses out.

"How is it perfect?" Nico replies, shaking his head. "I don't see anything in this letter saying that _you_ have work there. So how can it be?"

"But—"

"I didn't tell you," Nico says, kissing him, "because this would never be an option for me. Because no matter how amazing all these _things_ sound, none of them would be worth anything at all if I didn't get to share any of them with you. And since I am not uprooting you all the way down to Florida when you _love_ it here, I couldn't even—I wouldn't even consider it. Not for a moment. Not without you."

Levi's heart is racing for an entirely different reason than fear. Nico's smile for him is so loving and so certain that he's got new things he's trying not to cry about. "I would never stop you from taking—"

"If I had told you about this before saying no, you would have pulled _this_ face on me," Nico says, nuzzling against his cheek.

"...what face?"

"The face that says _I'm not doing anything to hold you back and you have to take this right now_."

"I wouldn't—"

"You would have tried to make me take it," Nico says, shaking his head in refusal. "You would have probably given me some kind of speech about how it's my duty to go for something as incredible as this, and that I can't let _you_ be something that holds me back. When it's _you_ that gives me _everything_. All the time."

"But this is… Nico, this is an unbelievable offer," Levi says, nodding at the letter still gripped in his hand. "It's… this could make you so… _happy_."

"But I'm happy _here_ ," Nico says, kissing him again. "I'm happy here with _you_. How would I ever be happy anywhere if it wasn't with you?"

Well when he puts it like _that_ , Levi thinks, clutching at Nico's thighs as he adjusts on his lap. "I wouldn't be happy anywhere without you either."

"Exactly," Nico agrees, kissing his forehead. "So how would this even be possible for me?"

"But if… if you _wanted_ —"

"One day, you, or I, might get another offer like this, that isn't so far away. Somewhere we both like the idea of, together. But until then, there is nowhere else I'd rather be, than here, with you."

Levi could cry. _Again_. How can a stupid _letter_ make him so emotional? "Okay," he says, whispering, because he can't get his voice to come out any louder.

"I _love_ you, Levi," Nico says, his eyes filled with that love as he smiles at him. "Do you honestly think I could ever even _exist_ anywhere, where you weren't?"

A couple of hours earlier his heart had been broken. Levi had already pictured a life without Nico in it, sure nothing would ever feel right, or whole again. But Nico's love for him is so open, and tender, and _real_ , that the only thing creeping into Levi's thoughts now is how foolish he's been, for ever thinking Nico would leave him. Would ever _want_ to be without him.

"Really?" he asks anyway, because he needs to be reassured.

Nico kisses him slow and reassuring, giving him all the answer he needs.


End file.
